


Amongst the H2O

by trinipedia



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Challenge Response, Community: samdeanexchange, Fanfiction, Gift, Gift Exchange, Gift Fic, M/M, Oneshot, SPN - Freeform, Wincest - Freeform, challenge, preslash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-03-14
Updated: 2010-03-14
Packaged: 2018-09-06 12:18:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,037
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8750545
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/trinipedia/pseuds/trinipedia
Summary: This is my adventure, this is my fantasy: it's all about living in the ocean, bein' wild and free...there's no telling were I'll go, but all I want is just to live amongst the H2O. Come along, it just gets better: so much to do and just so little time, 'cause it all depends on whether you want to leave the land above behind.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the [](http://samdeanexchange.livejournal.com/profile)[samdeanexchange](http://samdeanexchange.livejournal.com/) Gift Exchange: my giftee is [](http://flyingsoftly.livejournal.com/profile)[flyingsoftly](http://flyingsoftly.livejournal.com/). Sorry, babes, no sex...I tried to use as many of your requests as I could.
> 
> **Disclaimer:** Not mine in any way, shape or form. Inspired by Disney's "Return to the ocean", sort of.  
> 

**Artist Name:** [](http://inanna-maat.livejournal.com/profile)[**inanna_maat**](http://inanna-maat.livejournal.com/) who's my new personal deity, and a poster by [](http://anablaze.livejournal.com/profile)[**anablaze**](http://anablaze.livejournal.com/), whose incredible [](http://pics.livejournal.com/anablaze/pic/000020qp)**wallpaper** actually inspired the whole thing ( **DON'T LOOK BEFORE YOU'VE READ THE FIC! IT'S SPOILERY!** )  


It was five weeks, three days and nine hours after Sam had disappeared that Dean finally sucked it up and called out for Gabriel.  
The angel appeared almost instantly in front of him, sneer firmly in place and eyes shining with mischief.  
All in all, he still looked like the Trickster.  
"Ok, Mr. Cabaret, where the fuck is my brother?"  
Gabriel blinked, surprised.  
"Wha-why would you think I'm the one responsible for your brother's absence, uh?"  
Dean huffed.  
"Maybe because _you_ are one of the sons of bitches that seem to get their kicks from fucking us up?" he asked ironically, but for once Gabriel's expression wasn't mocking Dean at all when he looked back at him.  
"Dean, I don't _get my kicks_ from making you or your brother miserable, even if I have to admit that it is a little entertaining. Every time I came by and messed with your lives it was because I was trying to help you, don't you get it?"  
Dean stared at him, skeptical.  
"And why the hell would you do that, uh? What's in it for you?"  
Gabriel's gaze shifted from side to side, and for a second he looked sad.  
"Let's just say that-you have something that I want."  
Dean blinked, and the expression was gone.  
"So, hero, do you want my help or not?" Gabriel asked, impatiently, and Dean's attention went back to the current situation.  
Sam was missing.  
"Can you help at all?" he retorted, and Gabriel opened his arms wide.  
"Hello? Trickster, demigod, slash Gabriel, archangel? Of course I can. But it won't be easy, I warn you. Your brother is-well, he's lost, basically, and I'm not sure he'll even want to come back if and when you'll find him."  
Dean narrowed his eyes.  
"Sammy will always come back to me. _Always_ " he growled, and Gabriel sighed.  
"Ok, ok, fine. Here's what happened."

"I have to say, Winchester, that you look like death warmed over. No pun intended."  
Lucifer stared at him with an evil grin, and Sam didn't really have an answer for that.  
He coughed, again, and some more blood spilled from his mouth.  
His chest burned, his throat felt like it had been rubbed with sandpaper and his gaze was unfocused, as he rolled on himself trying to lessen the pain.  
Lucifer kneeled next to him, and shook his head sadly.  
"I told you not to do this" he added, throwing his hands up "I told you not to fight me. But did you listen? No. Like your pain in the ass older brother, you never listen. And now what, uh? Now you die, Dean dies and the world goes to Hell. Literally."  
Sam tried to focus on Lucifer, and opened and closed his mouth, trying to articulate.  
"Vessels" he croaked "over?"  
Lucifer snorted.  
"Do you really think that if I really needed you to rule this planet I would let you die? No, Sam, I found a different way to solve the vessel problem. Which is why I suddenly decided that it was perfectly ok to crush your spinal chord."  
Sam's eyes filled up with tears as he heard that his sacrifice was going to be worthless, and he tried to scramble up, failing miserably.  
"Whoa, whoa, are you crazy?! Where the heck do you think you're going?" Lucifer asked, pushing him back on the floor with a hand on his shoulder.  
"There's nothing else you can do, sporty, now it's all up to Dean. And we already know how _that_ is going to end. Of course" he said, standing back up slowly "we could avoid all the pain, death and destruction if you said yes. I mean, yeah, I have found a way to get my rightful place that wouldn't involve you, but what can I say? I have a soft spot for you, Sam."  
Sam shook his head furiously.  
"No" he added for good measure.  
Behind his certainty and his stubbornness, though, he was desperate, his fists clenching and unclenching repeatedly, as he realized that he was not going to see Dean ever again.  
Lucifer clenched his jaw.  
"Damn you and all your kind, Sam Winchester" he hissed, kicking Sam's leg, hard.  
He had tried everything, _everything_ he could think of, but to no avail: Sam wouldn't bulge.  
Then Sam curled up, pulling his knees as close to his chest as he could and something occurred to him.  
Maybe he didn't try _everything_ , after all, he thought as he snapped his fingers and Sam fell down like a puppet suddenly without strings.

Dean's eyes were watery and full of despair.  
"Are you telling me that Sam is _dead_ and you didn't lift a finger?!" he shouted at Gabriel.  
"Are you telling me that you just let him-you let him-"  
Gabriel rolled his eyes.  
"Of course not, you melodramatic prick! I was just trying to give you a full recap."  
Dean was mightily pissed.  
"Then you better go on and tell me what the fuck did that son of a bitch do to my little brother."  
Gabriel sighed.  
"Fine."

When Sam came to, the pain was gone.  
He felt pleasantly relaxed and rested, and he was almost afraid to open his eyes: who knew which sort of trick was Lucifer going to play on him this time?  
He couldn't lay there, wherever _there_ was, forever, though, so he manned up and slowly lifted his eyelids.  
What he saw took his breath away: he wasn't in the old factory anymore, he was in the sea.  
Like, _in_ the sea.  
_Under_ it.  
And still he was breathing freely.  
_Maybe I'm dead and this is my heaven_ he thought.  
He never told anyone, but he had always loved the water, and spent many sleepless nights imagining how would it feel to live in it, surrounded by the smell of salt and freedom.  
He pretended he was afraid of the water because it hurt to much to be close to it and not be part of it.  
Hence, it made sense that if God and his angels wanted to reward him, the sea was the place they would prepare for him.  
But then again, why in the world would God want to reward him, after all he had done, and after all he had wanted to do but never got the chance to?  
Something was most definitely not right.  
The sensation was magnified several times when Sam looked down and discovered exactly _why_ he was able to breathe underwater.  
He wasn't dead, he was a _siren_.  
Sam gasped, and his fins moved like the tail of an angry cat.  
"Welcome back, Sleeping Beauty" Lucifer greeted him, snorting "or should I call you Little Mermaid, instead?"  
"What the fuck do you think you're doing?" he hissed, and Lucifer smirked.  
"Just giving you a little push. You're going to stay here like this until you finally admit you want me to possess you, because the darkness inside of you is begging you to let it out. When you're ready to say yes, call me; until then, don't bother."  
He vanished, as fast as he appeared, leaving Sam alone to deal with the fact that he was now indefinitely a fish.  
Goddammit.

Dean's eyes were wide, just like his mouth as he gaped at Gabriel.  
"You're _not_ serious, come on, man" he said in the end.  
"Sam is-a _mermaid_?!"  
Gabriel glared at him.  
"Mer _man_ , actually. And yes, he is."  
Dean blinked.  
"Then-let's go save him and get him back! What are we still doing here?" he asked, already planning in how many ways he was going to tease his brother about this.  
Gabriel bit his lower lip.  
"Oh, well. That is-complicated, Dean."  
Dean's gaze snapped back to him.  
"What do you mean?"  
Gabriel sighed.  
"Well, first of all it's the big boss that did it, so I'm not completely sure I can even meddle with that. Secondarily, I can't find Sam-Enochian sigils, hello? And third..."  
"Third?!" Dean urged him on, and Gabriel's eyes shifted.  
"Third, I don't think Sam wants to get back."  
Dean looked at him like he was crazy.  
Gabriel cringed inwardly.  
He knew this was not going to be easy.  
"Just think about it, Dean. Sam now is free, without a care in the world. No apocalypse, no vessels, no one depends on him anymore. He can do and be whatever he wants."  
Dean wanted to scream, shout and break stuff.  
He wanted to tell this stupid archangel that he didn't know shit about Sam and what his little brother wanted, but he couldn't.  
Mainly because, in a twisted, retorted way, it made sense.  
"Then why did Lucifer did it? I mean, if Sam doesn't want to come back, he'll never say yes..."  
Gabriel offered him a small grin.  
"He didn't expect Sam to enjoy it this much. He wasn't prepared for the way Sam's soul was going to bond with the ocean."  
Dean was even more confused.  
"Bond...?"  
"Sam has always wanted to be in the sea. Now that he's there, he's slowly but surely losing his grip on reality. That's why I told you we have to hurry. There won't be much left of him to save if we don't get to him in time. I just don't know how we can do that."  
Dean clenched his fists and swallowed, hard, before making his decision.  
"Turn me, too. I'll go look for him."

Every morning was different, for Sam.  
Better.  
The water was warmer, the colors brighter, the smells stronger.  
He swam for hours, he watched the waves come and go on the shore and breathed as deeply as he could, afraid that everything could disappear just as fast as it came to him.  
Every morning it became harder for him to remember exactly why he should have wanted to turn human again.  
What could that life give him that was better than what he had right now?  
The life of hundreds of people somehow didn't seem so important anymore; what was important for Sam was the way his heart seemed to soar and fly, the way his body was sated and didn't crave demon blood or anything else, the way his soul was, finally, at peace.

The sun settled on the horizon, and Sam came up to watch it.  
It always moved him deeply, the buttery gold melting on the water before giving way to the moon and the velvety sky.  
Since he was turned, he had started to appreciate the little things, like the sea breeze or the foam on the waves.  
Everything was perfect and in sync, in the sea, there was no doubt, no right or wrong.  
The big fish ate the small fish because that was how nature made it, there weren't evil fishes or good ones.  
Sam closed his eyes and sighed, serene.  
The devil could have sent everything he wanted, storms, lightnings, pollution.  
He would have never given it up, for anything, because nothing was worth of-  
"...Sammy?"  
Well, _almost_ nothing.

"Dean? Dean!" Sam exclaimed, swimming quickly towards him, and threw his arms around his brother's neck, holding him tightly against his naked chest.  
Dean froze for a split second, but then he relaxed and returned the embrace.  
Their tails bumped into each other, and Sam moved back.  
"What are you doing here?" he asked.  
Dean seemed surprised by the question.  
"Wha-I came looking for you" he explained, matter-of-factly.  
"Sam you've been gone almost two months! I've been worried sick."  
Sam beamed at him.  
"And now you're here! That's great, bro, you'll see: living under the sea it's amazing. You'll get used to it pretty fast, and-"  
Dean grabbed his arm, effectively interrupting him.  
"No, Sam, I-I'm not here to stay. I'm here to take you back."  
Sam blinked, confused.  
"Why would you go back?" he inquired.  
"Why would _I_?"  
Dean gaped.  
"Because-Lucifer, the apocalypse, and-"  
"Yadda, yadda, yadda! Listen to yourself, Dean! There's _always_ going to be something more important, don't you get it? We keep renouncing to everything that matters to us, we even _forget_ sometimes about the dreams we had...and for what?"  
He lifted his gaze on Dean and offered him a small, sad smile.  
"I'm done, Dean. I'm tired. I just don't care anymore. Let's leave the task of saving the world to someone else, for a change."  
Dean searched for the right words to say, heck, for _anything_ to say, but came up empty handed.  
There was nothing, Sam was right.  
"Listen, Sam, I-"

"What a _nice_ display!" Lucifer exclaimed, appearing suddenly next to them.  
" _You_ again" Sam huffed.  
"My answer is _no_ , so...you can go."  
Lucifer grinned.  
"Oh, are you sure you don't want to think about it a little more?" he asked, and before Sam could answer Dean made a choking sound.  
"Sa-Sammy" he croaked, with his hands around his throat, gasping repeatedly.  
Sam narrowed his eyes.  
"What are you doing to him?" he growled menaciously, but Lucifer just shrugged.  
"Oh, nothing. I'm simply turning him human again."  
Sam's eyes went wide.  
"But-you can't! We're at the bottom of the ocean, he'll never surface in time!" he exclaimed.  
Lucifer chuckled.  
"My, my, sometimes I forget you were a straight-A student! That's right, Sam. He's about to die, in a very painful way, I might add, since the pressure of the water is going to crush every single bone in his body. So, what was your answer again?"  
Sam's gaze shifted frantically from his brother to the devil; Dean looked in pain, but he kept shaking his head.  
_No_ he mouthed _Sammy, **no**_.  
And Sam's heart, that had been almost dormant until then, finally started beating back.  
He wouldn't let his brother suffer, if he could help it.  
"Fine" he stated, his jaw clenched and his chin high "you win."  
Lucifer's grin became sickening bright.  
"I know" he said "now, let me in."  
Sam opened his mouth, to say that one, single word that was going to doom the whole world, but then a ball of light blinded him and he had to close his eyes.  
When he opened them again, the Trickster-no, Gabriel, was there.  
"Not on my watch, Lucy" Gabriel said, and snapped his fingers: both Dean and him instantly disappeared.  
Lucifer let out a frustrated growl.  
"You might have won this battle, Winchester" he hissed "but the war is still long. I mean, I have a few thousand years left to fight it...you don't."  
And just like that, he was gone too.  
Sam swam as fast as he could to the surface, from where he could see Gabriel laying a human Dean on the shore.  
Castiel was there too, looking still a little sick.  
The time travel really left him crushed, apparently.  
Sam swam towards them, stopping just a few meters from them.  
His tail swayed in the water as he closed his eyes and heard the Trickster snap his fingers again.

"What's wrong?!" Dean exclaimed "why doesn't he change?!"  
He sounded a little hysterical, but didn't give a damn.  
Gabriel sighed.  
"Sam's will to stay in the ocean is too strong, I can't reverse it" was all he said before leaving "when he'll want to become human again, he will."  
Dean stared at his brother, who was sitting on a rock, his gaze lost on the horizon.  
"I always wished for this" Sam said, quietly.  
"Every time we went swimming, I would close my eyes and desire with all my strength that my legs would turn into a tail. But then I opened them and my bony legs were still there."  
Dean swallowed and nodded.  
"I know you'd dug yourself out, Dean. You've done it already. But me... I don't have the strength. I just-I want to stay. I want to stay so bad. Ever since I got turned, all I can think about is how much this job's cost us. We've lost so much, we've sacrificed so much."  
Dean clasped Sam's naked, wet shoulder with a hand and squeezed.  
"I know we have, bro. Believe me, I know. But we've also done so much! People are alive because of us. It's not fair, and it hurts, but-it's worth it. And you know that, somewhere inside of you."  
Sam smiled sadly, his eyes focused somewhere else again.  
"Christ, Sammy! There's nothing, absolutely _nothing_ that you'd miss if you left?! No one?"  
Sam could hear the unspoken question as clear as if Dean had asked it.  
_What about me?_  
Sam's chest clenched at the idea of a life without Dean, and, apparently, that was all it took to break the spell.

A few hours passed since Sam had sat on the beach, his knees pressed against his chest, as he stared at the never ending movement of the waves.  
"You ok?" Dean asked, sitting next to him on the shore.  
Sam sighed.  
"Not really" he answered.  
"There was no pain, no fear, no doubts, Dean. You can't possibly understand. I would have given everything up, my voice, my legs, my hair...everything I have, to keep those fins."  
Dean looked away, doubting for the first time.  
Maybe he had torn his brother out of his Heaven for the second time just because he was too selfish to let him go.  
"Sam" he started "I'm-"  
But Sam shook his head.  
"There's nothing for you to be sorry for, Dean. In the end, I would have never been able to give _you_ up; no matter how bad I wanted it, I wanted to be with you more."  
Just as he finished talking, his eyes widened in realization of what he had just admitted, and he covered his mouth with his hands, staring terrified at his older brother.  
Dean, however, just offered him a small smile and pulled him closer to his side.  
There was going to be plenty of time to have chick-flick moments, once they had saved the world and won over their own future.

**END**

BONUS: BLUE WALLPAPER WITHOUT TEXT!

BONUS 2: SAM'S POSTER!!

Go tell [](http://anablaze.livejournal.com/profile)[**anablaze**](http://anablaze.livejournal.com/) how freaking amazing she is [**HERE**](http://anablaze.livejournal.com/1362.html).


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